Denver charter schools continue to outperform peers in Colorado

(The Center Square) – Charter school students in Denver had stronger learning gains in math and reading than the state average in the 2017-18 and 2018-19 school years.

That’s according to a study of the Denver education system released in May by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes at Stanford University (CREDO).

Charter schools in Denver also showed greater learning gains than district schools within Denver in math in 2018-19.

CREDO did an analysis of Denver schools in 2019 and found that Denver charter school students had stronger gains than the state average in reading and math in all three years the study reviewed – 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17.

There are 43 charter school districts in Colorado that represent 265 individual charter schools. The Denver Metro area has 132 charter schools.

Denver charter schools serve students who are low-income and minorities. In 2020-21, 62% of charter school students in Denver were on free or reduced federal lunch plans and 25% of the students enrolled were white with 54% of the student body Hispanic, according to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.

In Colorado, charter schools are open to all students. The state’s charter school law prohibits discrimination based on academic ability.